CVE-2025-7401

Critical

Published: 11 July 2025

Published

11 July 2025

Modified

15 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0188 83.3th percentile

Risk Priority 21 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-7401 is a critical-severity Use of Hard-coded Credentials (CWE-798) vulnerability in Codecanyon (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 16.7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-14 (Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication) and CM-11 (User-installed Software).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 1 other technique. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Requires timely patching of the vulnerable plugin versions up to 3.0.2 to eliminate the arbitrary file read/write vulnerability in remote_tunnel.php.

CM-11 User-installed Software good match

prevent

Prohibits unauthorized installation of third-party WordPress plugins like Premium Age Verification, preventing deployment of components with unprotected remote support functionality.

AC-14 Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication good match

prevent

Explicitly defines and restricts permitted actions without authentication, preventing unauthenticated arbitrary file read/write via the remote_tunnel.php endpoint.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

T1505.003 Web Shell Persistence

Adversaries may backdoor web servers with web shells to establish persistent access to systems.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Vulnerability in public-facing WordPress plugin enables remote unauthenticated arbitrary file read/write (via hard-coded credentials), directly facilitating initial access via T1190 and web shell deployment (T1505.003) for RCE.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

The Premium Age Verification / Restriction for WordPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file read and write due to the existence of an insufficiently protected remote support functionality in remote_tunnel.php in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.2.…

This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to read from or write to arbitrary files on the affected site's server which may make the exposure of sensitive information or remote code execution possible.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-7401 affects the Premium Age Verification / Restriction for WordPress plugin in all versions up to and including 3.0.2. The vulnerability stems from insufficiently protected remote support functionality in the remote_tunnel.php file, enabling arbitrary file read and write operations on the affected WordPress site's server. This issue is classified under CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating critical severity due to its potential for high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely with low complexity and no user interaction required. By leveraging the unprotected remote_tunnel.php endpoint, they can read sensitive files or write arbitrary content to the server, potentially exposing configuration data, user credentials, or other confidential information. In scenarios where attackers write executable files, such as PHP webshells, this could lead to remote code execution, granting full server compromise.

Advisories, including those from Wordfence, provide further details on the vulnerability. Mitigation guidance and patch information can be found in the referenced sources, such as the Wordfence threat intelligence page and the plugin's Codecanyon listing.